Ashlynn
I flung the door open, “What?“. I saw the surprised look on my mothers face as she stood outside my door. “Oh sorry Mom. Everything ok?” I looked behind her and didn’t see anyone, then peered over the stair railing to just see darkness.
My Mom looked frightened, squeezing her cell phone tightly in her hand. “Can I come in? I need to talk to you.”
I stepped back from the door, motioning for her to enter. She walked straight to the kitchen and poured herself some water. I took notice of her current state, eyes red and puffy, hands visibly shaking. She was wearing her pajamas and a robe. She had clearly been either in bed or about to go to bed. I walked over and stood next to her rubbing her arms, “Mom, what’s going on? You seem shaken by something.”
My mom looked up at me with a pained smile. “Let’s sit. I need to share something with you. I kind of need your advice, I’m not sure how to handle this.” I nodded and we walked to the couch and sat down. I didn’t say anything, just sat waiting for her to speak.
So I received a few voicemails. When the calls came through, I didn’t recognize the number so I sent them straight to voicemail. I figured if it was important, they would leave a message. It’s not like I know a lot of people and I have the numbers saved in my phone of those I do know.” She looked at me, I imagine waiting for me to say something, but I just nodded to encourage her to keep going.
“Uh anyway, the first one was just weird. It was a man and he said, “I know what you did.” Then he hung up. I didn’t call it back, I mean why would I? But then, I started getting more calls from this number. Some were just hang ups. Yesterday, I got a call that said, I’m coming. I was starting to think it’s a wrong number. Until tonight. Tonight the man said my name,” a single tear fell down my mothers cheek. I reached over and wiped it off.
“Mom, what did he say? Did you recognize the voice?,” I asked her so she would continue.
“That’s just it. I don’t recognize the voice. The number is from Oregon though. I’ve been trying to figure it out, but I honestly don’t know who it is or why they would be bothering me,” she sighed before continuing. “This time, he said Carolyn you will pay for this, mark my words.” She was shaking, sitting there looking pale and confused.
“Ok Mom, let me listen to the messages. My advice though, is that you need to tell Uncle Gabe. And probably Cody too. That is if you trust Cody and are comfortable with him. I’m not sure how that relationship is going?“, I said the last part more like a question.
“Oh he’s been wonderful. Really. I did contemplate telling Gabe, but he has enough on his plate right now. I am going to call Tobias. Maybe he can look into the number since he’s closer to the location than we are,” she handed me the phone, with the voicemail already open. I looked at the numbers. Since I had gone to University in Oregon, I immediately knew it was a Portland number. I clicked play and listened to each one, carefully trying to discern if I knew the voice.
When I was finished, I looked over at my mom, her eyes hopeful that maybe I recognized it. I reached my hand to touch her leg. “Mom, you can’t keep this quiet. You must tell Uncle Tobias and Uncle Gabe. The number is a Portland number. I can think of a few possibilities, but we can’t just go blaming people without proof. Honestly, the voice sounds kind of familiar but I can’t place it. I do feel like I know it though. Maybe I need to keep listening to the recording and it will come to me.” I stood and walked over to the counter and took my cell phone off the charger. I rarely used my phone and half the time it just sat on the counter in my loft. Walking back over, I opened the voice recorder and replayed the messages on speaker, saving them to my phone.
“Obviously, we aren’t going to get very far with this tonight. But if anyone is awake still, you should go share it with them, I walked over to the big bay window and looked out. “Looks like Cody is still up. The lights are on in his house. Maybe go talk to him for now, see if it makes you feel better.”
Mom nodded her head and stood up from the couch, “You’re right. I’m going to talk to Cody. I will talk to both of your Uncles first thing in the morning. It’s just got me shook. I don’t know/what they could be talking about. I’ve never hurt a soul in my life.”
I walked over and gave mom a hug. She had been through so much. How could people keep toying with her like this? As she walked to the door, she turned back to me. “Sorry if I disturbed you. I know you must be exhausted. I heard Dawson is home. Is he here?”
I felt my cheeks flush red, as I nodded yes. Mom made an “O” with her mouth and then chuckled. “Oops. Sorry honey. You get some sleep.” She walked out the door, leaving me standing there feeling completely embarrassed, as if my mother knew exactly what I had been up to before she banged on my door. To be fair, I’m an adult. I shouldn’t be embarrassed. I’ve just never really had a romantic life, so this was a new one for me.
1/2
Chapter 72
I walked over and locked the front door.
When I came back to the bedroom, Dawson was sound asleep. I’m sure he needs rest. I took off my robe and threw on a big t–shirt and crawled into bed. I snuggled up to Dawson, taking in his scent, his skin warm against mine. As I lay my head on his chest, I felt his arm wrap around me. He stirred briefly and placed a soft kiss on the top of my head, as he muttered good night. Then I fell into a dreamless sleep.
